Just Back From Carnival---Wow!

[Ships R Great]

We just got back from a cruise on Carnival Pride out of Baltimore. All I can say is, "Wow!" We were expecting a so-so rating for this cruise. We gave it a 9 1/2! Of course, there were a few minor things that happened, but that is always the case. The only biggie was that we did not get early seating. Had to eat late the first night. Not good. But we were changed to early the second night. We ate by ourselves but that was all right.

 

We sailed out of Baltimore. Very easy to drive to from Northern VA. The port is easy to get around for first timers. Embarkation was a breeze! DH carries a cane. They directed us to "Assisted" and we were on the ship in the second group, right after VIPs.

 

The food was great. Huge portions, even tho I asked for small every meal. Only three courses but that was no prob for us. The famous "chocolate melting cake" was wonderful! It was on the menu every night but i only indulged twice!

 

The dancers were the best we have ever seen on any ship. There were four (sometmes five) guys and maybe eleven girls. The two singers were okay.

 

The crew were also very good. There were fresh flowers on the tables. (That is sort of a biggie for us. (Plastic flowers on RCL turned us off.)

 

Debarkation was easy also. Those who wanted to cary their stuff off were debarked first. We had about an hour wait for them. Then we were next off.

 

Got to go. I am worn out. Cruising really takes it out of you :).

 

Just wanted to let folks know that we were most pleasantly surprised with Carnival. We would go on Pride again, in a heart beat.

[baby]

why did you post this on celebrity?

 

carol

[kannna]

probably because "ships" is a frequent celebrity cruiser if you were to read thier cruise history and they thought we would like to know.

[Lois R]

why did you post this on celebrity?

 

carol

 

Hi, because they sail on Celebrity 99% of the time and wanted

to give us their experience since they tried another line.

[cyntil8ing]

Hi. We were on the Pride this summer for our first family cruise. I loved it. We live about 45 minutes from the port and not having to do the kid/airport suffle and pay airfare for four was fantastic. It's too bad that the regular itinerary for the Pride is of no interest to us.

The only biggie was that we did not get early seating. Had to eat late the first night. Not good.

Really? It was all open seating the first night when we were aboard. I would have preferred to have our regular assignment, but I guess with the 5:30 departure, it was difficult for folks to make the early seating.

The food was great. Huge portions, even tho I asked for small every meal. Only three courses but that was no prob for us. The famous "chocolate melting cake" was wonderful! It was on the menu every night but i only indulged twice!

We ordered soup or an appetizer and a salad each night. I really enjoy the cold soups. My husband is the warm chocolate melting cake fan. He ate it every night! I reminded him before we booked our Celebrity cruise that he would not be able to have it. He is dealing with the loss. :rolleyes: Personally, I think it tastes like half-cooked brownie batter. :eek:

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your Pride cruise. Here is a link to my Pride review that I posted on the Carnival board in June: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1009766

[Ships R Great]

Kanna and Lois are right. I wanted folks to know that, after our bad experience on RCL in August, we were pleasantly surprised with Carnival. We had not tried it before, due to the Party rep C has had. I knew I should have trusted Tuggers.

 

Cindy, tell your DH that X has wonderful chocolate desserts! My DH orders something chocolate every night.

[drk]

Glad to hear/read it!! We are Elite with X and Platinum with Carnival and have always enjoyed both for what they are/do. The Pride is a Spirit class ship which are the ones that I always recommend to those who are afraid of Carnival.

[richsea]

Hi Patty! Glad you enjoyed your Carnival cruise!

Our daughter has cruised Carnival twice with our grandson after cruising on Celebrity & enjoyed her cruises with them. She did say that the service was not what you get on Celebrity, but she had a great time. Maybe some day we'll try them. Could you give us your impressions of the ship decor campared to Celebrity ships? From the videos that my daughter took, their ships seem a little gaudy to me.

[Solstice23]

I am glad you enjoyed your Carnival Ship, Our good Friends that sail with us from London Ontario Canada every year just sailed on the Triumph, And hated every minute. They did like the one dessert but other then that nothing came close to any of the previous 8 cruises? I am glad to hear some positive remarks about Carnival, I guess taking the money from HAL and Princess and investing it on the Carnival ships is paying off somewhere! ( Kidding)

[Ships R Great]

Rich-I was a little apprehensive (okay, a lot apprehensive) about the decor, based on pictures I had seen but we were surprised. Actually, we thought the ship was a bit dour, until we got used to it. It is Italian renaissance styled. Lots of heave bronze figures and concrete pedistals. Well, probably plastic but it looked like bronze and concrete. Lots of renaissance paintings, murals, etc.

 

The theater, however, was over the top Taj Mahal gaudy.

 

Toronto, we found the food to be much better than we anticipated. Not up to X but quite good. Portions were too generous. One night DH did not want the rice that came with the Seafood Newberg. They gave him no rice and twice the newberg! And they actually listened when I asked for a small omelet each morning. On X they always bring out a full-sized portion. DH loved the hamburgers and french fries on the Lido. I liked that they had soft serve ice cream 24/7, tho I only had it at lunch a couple of days.

 

Don't know bout other ships but I liked the Pride. The cabin was 185 sq. ft. Seemed very spacious. Great bathroom!

 

But my true loyalty still lies with X.

[DocJohnB]

Ships R Great,

 

Thanks for the quickie review.

 

We also went on our first Carnival cruise with some trepidation, but were pleasantly surprised. Our second was just as good.

 

I would not hesitate, if I found the right itinerary to sail on some of their ships. Not the larger ones though. (same with all the mega's though)

[Ships R Great]

John, no mega ships for us, either. If I want to go to a resort I'll book a land vacation. These big "floating palaces" are just no for us. But as the lines build bigger they drop off the smaller ships. We may just have to stop cruising one of these decades.

[klingoncruiser]

This is why I encourage people to try other cruise lines and find out for them selves. Nice review and good to hear.